ATLANTA – With a week and a half to go until Election Day 2022, and Democrats desperately trying to hold onto their razor-thin congressional majorities, the most popular person in the Democratic Party is returning to the campaign trail to try and perform some last-minute political magic.
Former President Barack Obama will headline a rally in the crucial southeastern battleground of Georgia on Friday evening, followed by stops in the Midwestern swing states of Michigan and Wisconsin on Saturday.
The former two-term president heads to the purple state of Nevada on Tuesday, and the crucial northeastern battleground of Pennsylvania on Nov. 5. Four of the states hold high-stakes Senate elections that will likely determine which party will control the chamber’s majority going forward, and four hold high-profile gubernatorial contests.
With Democrats facing historical headwinds — the party that wins the White House traditionally suffers major setbacks in the ensuing midterm elections — and a rough political climate fueled by record inflation, soaring crime and a border crisis and accentuated by President Biden’s rebounding but still underwater approval ratings, Obama’s mission is to try to energize the party’s base.
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Former President Barack Obama speaks after he and former first lady Michelle Obama unveiled their official White House portraits during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) (AP )
The former president, who left office in January 2017, remains extremely popular with Democrats and moderately popular with independent voters.
“President Obama is singular in the impact he can have for Democratic candidates,” longtime political consultant and communications strategist Bill Burton emphasized.
Burton, who served as national press secretary on Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, worked in a senior role in the Obama White House press shop and steered the top super PAC backing the then-president’s 2012 re-election campaign, told Fox News that “as someone not weighed down by the day-to-day challenges that come with the job, he can rise beyond some of the grievances people may have about governance.”
Eric Schultz, a senior adviser to the former president, said on the eve of the Atlanta rally that “President Obama looks forward to doing his part to help Democrats win. Given the stakes of this year’s races, everyone needs to do their part to get out the vote. His message will be simple: to make the case to voters that Democrats have their backs. And our strategy is to do our best to inspire voters to cast their ballots.”
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In Georgia, Obama will be joined by first-term Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, who’s locked in a very competitive battle with Republican challenger Herschel Walker, as well as Democratic gubernatorial nominee and voting rights champion Stacey Abrams, who’s challenging GOP Gov. Brian Kemp in a rematch of their 2018 election showdown.
Former President Barack Obama and President Joe Biden arrive at a ceremony to unveil the official Obama White House portraits at the White House on September 7, 2022, in Washington, DC. ((Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images))
“President Obama choosing to make Georgia his first campaign stop of this election cycle underscores that just like in 2020, the Peach State is once again the center of the political universe. It also puts a spotlight on how much is at stake for our state and country — this is a once-in-a-generation election, and President Obama is here to lay out the stakes and outline the power voters have to make history,” Rep. Nikema Williams, Democratic Party of Georgia chair, told Fox News in a statement.
Warnock, in a fundraising email to supporters, said that Obama’s mission is “to help us fire up voters in this critical final stretch, keep the Senate blue, and continue making progress for our country.”
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Ahead of his rallies, Obama has also been starring in recent days in campaign ads for a number of Democratic candidates across the country.
“In Pennsylvania you’ve got some important choices to make this year,” the former president said in a new spot by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee that’s running in the Keystone State. “The fate of our democracy and a woman’s right to choose are on the line.”
Former presidents are anything but strangers to the campaign trail. Former President Bill Clinton was a fixture for many cycles following his two terms in the White House. And former President Donald Trump, who remains very popular and influential among most Republicans, has been crisscrossing the country this year, holding large rallies on behalf of the GOP candidates he’s endorsed.
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With Biden’s poll numbers remaining in negative territory ahead of the midterms, the president’s appearances on the campaign trail — other than fundraisers — have been infrequent. It’s a similar story for Vice President Kamala Harris, whose approval ratings are also underwater.
That means many in the Democratic Party are looking to Obama to serve as the closer this cycle. But veteran Republican strategist Colin Reed noted that there’s a downside.
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“It’s all well and good that former President Obama is campaigning, and maybe he’ll help turn out the base, but he’s also a president who’s been out of office now for close to six years,” Reed told Fox News.
“And if you want to make this election a vision for the future or a reason to keep electing Democrats, trotting out former party leaders, no matter how popular they may be, still sends a message that we’re stuck in the past,” Reed said.
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